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Visitor from Friendship Link Club SI Wichita (USA)

Visitor from Friendship Link Club SI Wichita (USA)

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In July Jane McHugh, a member of SI Wichita, came to Manchester and members met up with her on two occasions. SI Wichita in Kansas is a long standing Friendship Link club to SI Manchester and various members have kept up correspondence with them over the years and the clubs have regularly exchanged their newsletters. Jane was in the UK with her cousin and, while visiting the Isle of Man to research their family tree, took a two day detour to Manchester so that she could meet up with us. On her first day here President Stella and members met her for lunch in Manchester city centre, and the following day a coffee morning was held for her at the home of Immediate Past President Susan. The weather was glorious and coffee and cakes were taken in Susan’s beautiful garden.  Jane brought us some napkins

July Speaker Meeting

July Speaker Meeting

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President Stella was pleased to welcome Tim Olsen as our speaker at the July meeting. Tim is a coffee shop manager and devotes much of his spare time to raising funds and awareness for the charity Mary’s Meals, most recently by walking the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall with his son. He spoke about how the charity started from humble beginnings when two Scottish fishermen wanted to help after seeing the crisis in Bosnia on the television news 22 years ago. They collected donations locally, filled a van and drove to Bosnia. When they returned home people had collected more aid and so the Scottish International Relief charity was started. It was realised that children in developing countries would be encouraged to attend school if they were offered a midday meal there, and the charity developed and became Mary’s Meals. Food is sourced locally for these feeding stations, and so helps the

Junior Royal Northern College of Music Prize

Junior Royal Northern College of Music Prize

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In memory of one of our late members, a financial prize was bequeathed to the Junior Royal Northern College of Music.  It is known as the Helen Latto (Soroptimist) Prize for Vocal Studies and is awarded annually to the student who has excelled in singing. This year’s winner, Myrna Tennant, a soprano from Dumfries, shown here with our club President, is a girl who seems destined for great things.  We all wish her well as she continues her studies from September this year, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Visit to the Lord Mayor’s Parlour

Visit to the Lord Mayor’s Parlour

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Following the Lord Mayor’s attendance at the Charter Dinner last month, Immediate Past President Susan and members were invited to visit the Lord Mayor’s Parlour in Manchester Town Hall on April 22nd. The spacious apartments are on the 4th floor overlooking Albert Square, and historically the Lord Mayor was required to live there during his or her year in office. The rooms are now used to entertain visiting dignitaries, including the royal family when they come to the city. Members were entertained by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Susan Cooley, who will take up office as Lord Mayor in June. She is the Council’s Older People’s Champion and will be looking at the contribution to life in the city by people over the age of 50 during her year in office. We look forward to entertaining her at our Annual Dinner in March 2015.  

AGM 2014

AGM 2014

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The Annual General Meeting was held at the Pinewood, Handforth on April 10th. Members enjoyed a delicious meal in a convivial atmosphere. The formal business of the AGM was followed by the installation of the new President, Stella Kay. Stella then presented Susan Hollick with her Past President’s badge and installed Susan Underwood as President Elect and Christine Gibbons as Vice President.

Cornerstone Visit April 2014

Cornerstone Visit April 2014

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Cornerstone Visit President Susan and members visited the Cornerstone Day Centre on April 9th to present them with a cheque for £1775, money which was raised at the Olde English Night in December. Marjorie Coates, who is a Support Worker, gave us a warm welcome and showed those of us who had not been before around the Drop-in Centre. The Centre offers a one-stop shop where people in need can get a meal, change of clothing, friendship and even access to the telephone or internet and basic education and healthcare. They propose to use the money to install a professional standard deep fat fryer. I think there will be another club visit when that is up and running, just to do some quality control testing of the chips!

April Speaker Meeting

April Speaker Meeting

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April Speaker Meeting President Susan welcomed two speakers and two new members to the meeting on April 1st. The speakers were Pat Williams who is the Regional Membership Officer and Naomi Norton who is a music teacher. Pat spoke about the issues around the recruitment and retention of members and an interesting discussion ensued. She was also very pleased to extend a welcome to our two new members. The club came to be in touch with Naomi via Sylvia Schwarzenbach, the Swiss Soroptimist we met in January, as she was the organiser of the conference that Sylvia attended at the Royal Northern College of Music. Naomi is a music teacher from Leeds who is undertaking her PhD at the RNCM. Her thesis is titled ‘Health Education in Instrumental and Vocal Music Lessons: The Teacher’s Perspective’ and she gave a fascinating talk on the subject and answered

International Women’s Day 2014

International Women’s Day 2014

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Members were pleased to help celebrate International Women’s Day at the Pankhurst Centre on March 5th when 40 pupils, aged 11 to 13 years, came from Manchester High School for Girls for a study day with the theme of ‘Women as Peacemakers’. The girls spent time in the heritage museum learning about the Pankhurst family and their involvement with the Women’s Suffrage movement and there were two workshops, one where small groups of pupils worked on composing a Peace song and the other where a large Peace banner was made. There was a moving performance of peace songs by an ad hoc choir consisting of some members of the centres own choir, The Pankettes, some ladies who had been part of the Greenham Common peace camps in the 1980’s, centre volunteers  and even our own President Susan. The pupils were issued with a replica ration

SI Manchester 88th Charter Dinner

SI Manchester 88th Charter Dinner

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 Members and guests gathered at Chancellors Hotel, Fallowfield, on Saturday 1st March to celebrate the club’s 88th Charter Dinner. President Susan welcomed Councillor Naeem ul Hussan, Lord Mayor of Manchester, and Victoria Smerdon, President of South Lancashire. Also on top table were Angie Christopher, President of SI Blackburn, Wendy Grimshaw, President of SI The Fylde, and Mr Davd Hollick who proposed the Toast to Soroptimist International. After dinner Mr Bernard Dolan, Ambassador for Cancer Research, introduced and performed with the group ‘Loose Change’ who regularly busk in Wilmslow in aid of cancer research.

Warsaw Visitor

Warsaw Visitor

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Agnieszka Parlinska, a member of SI Warsaw, who was coming to Salford University during February made contact with our club and met up with President Susan and Rosemary Steven for a most enjoyable and informative evening discussing and comparing lifestyles and Soroptimist activities in Poland and the UK. Agnieszka is an economist specialising in the public sector and as part of her PhD studies had spent a period at Glasgow University and has now commenced a post doctorate thesis leading eventually to an academic chair at Warsaw University. The Warsaw club was opened in 1990 – the first club in Poland to be chartered. Agnieszka is club treasurer and hopes eventually to be President. She is arranging to return to Salford University in the near future which will give more members the opportunity to meet her. We look forward to seeing her again soon.